Skin is composed of epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous tissue. While providing protection against an attack by microbes that are introduced from an outside, skin plays a very important role for maintaining body moisture and body temperature. Epidermis plays a role of protecting skin, regulating body temperature, and maintaining body moisture, and it is composed of an extracellular matrix which is related with skin elasticity and skin flexibility. Dermis is directly related with skin aging.
Upon binding to a receptor for an epidermal growth factor present on a surface of a cell, the human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) induces a dimerization of a receptor for an epidermal growth factor. A dimeric receptor for an epidermal growth factor activates the tyrosine kinase present in the receptor to induce an intracellular signal transduction system. As a result of those processes, glycolysis and protein synthesis are promoted in a cell, eventually leading to cell growth.
The epidermal growth factor playing an important role in skin regeneration decreases according to a progress of aging, and a decrease in the epidermal growth factor causes a reduction in skin cell proliferation and transfer, and thus phenomena like skin aging, increased wrinkles, and reduced skin elasticity are exhibited accordingly.
Green fluorescent protein consisting of 238 amino acids is a protein with size of about 27 kDa in which a β barrel structure is formed by eleven β sheet structures and a loop structure is present both above and beneath the green fluorescent protein. Serine 65-tyrosine 66-glycine 67 are present inside the β barrel, and as a fluorophore is formed of those three amino acids, green fluorescence is generated.
The inventors of the present invention have studied to develop a new protein which has a skin regeneration activity of the human epidermal growth factor and is useful for protecting skin against active oxygen as a cause of aging. As a result, according to fusion of the green fluorescent protein originating from crystal jellyfish (Aequorea victoria) to human epidermal growth factor, they developed a fusion protein having not only excellent skin regeneration effect but also anti-oxidation activity.
Incidentally, in Korean Patent Registration No. 1175803, ‘Cosmetic composition for skin cell regeneration and wrinkle improvement’ comprising acetyl hexapeptide-3, copper peptide, palmitoyl pentapeptide, and epidermal growth factor is disclosed, and in Korean Patent Registration No. 1238706, ‘Fermented camellia infused oil containing oils from Acanthopanax Koreanum as effective ingredient, preparation method thereof and anti-oxidation, anti-aging, anti-inflammatory, skin-whitening, anti-wrinkle, or anti-allergy cosmetic composition containing the same as active ingredient’ is disclosed. However, there is no description relating to an anti-wrinkle and anti-aging cosmetic composition which comprises, as an effective component, the green fluorescent protein-human epidermal growth factor fusion protein of the present invention having excellent anti-oxidation activity.